HIGGANUM, CT - 10 October, 1998: Human memory has a faculty for extreme selectivity.
I have not experienced a New England autumn in twenty-two years.
I had expected the usual fondly recalled associations: seeing my first bright red cardinal come darting through the evergreens like some airborne tongue of flame; the aromas of burning logs and burning leaves; the laughter of old friends; the first golden and orange trees looking for all the world like the mirror-images of the burning bush. But I had not expected the revelations of unguarded moments. At my age, one attempts to keep unguarded moments to a minimum. At least I do. So I was taken unawares when one visual trigger conjured the spectre of emotional pain long-submerged.
I walked outside yesterday morning to find the grass speckled silver by beads of dew mixed in with the residue of the previous night's rain. Jays cut blue streaks among the trees and shrubbery and shrieked harshly at the hazy air. The light fog of the humid morning was just lifting to reveal woodland going orange, red, brown and gold, seemingly overnight. Two such trees were the visual triggers which summoned other solitary moments from other hazy, crisp mornings of New England autumn twenty odd years ago.
It took me fifteen years to recover enough, get enough emotional distance, to even consider coming back to the East. I believe the homing instinct finally kicked in approximately four years ago. I began promising myself that I would return here, and move into New York City, in 1994. San Francisco continued to seduce me with her uneven and often insubstantial charms, but the yearning for the East, once there, gnawed, gnawed...
We have NINE new articles in this kick-off issue of the week's edition. I would like to particularly recommend you to ROBERT PURVIS's follow-up to last week's CDA II alert in G21 NEWS. Congress is at it again, so if you care about free speech on the 'Net, please go to Bob's piece to get the latest.... Guest Writer MARK OSTROWSKI weighs in on the Atlantic Triangle in today's DAY ONE, providing valuable insight on the Free Trade Area of the Americas(FTAA), which might as well be called "Son of NAFTA." This is more news you can use... These two important pieces are just the lead-offs to a cornucopeia of excellent submissions from CHUCK NYREN, JEFF WINBUSH, BRYAN POWERS, PHIL MARTIN, and BOB POWERS.
And that's just the beginning of the week! We have more for you as the days unfold.
CORRECTION: On last week's cover, I mistakenly identified my godson's major as Computer Science; he switched it to Multimedia Studies while I wasn't looking. I apologize for the misunderstanding.
Thanks for coming back this week.
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Because we like you....
Be Good to Each Other,
The sight of those two trees pierced me with the recollection that I had lost my first love here in Connecticut, experienced disappointments as profound as any of those anywhere else, and even attempted to end my own life in the shadows of a New England winter...
ABOUT THIS ISSUE: Every time I believe we have set the record for the number of new articles we shall publish in a new issue, Fate kicks my butt and exclaims: "Oh yeah?"
We're glad you're here. We have a lot to offer this(and EVERY) week. Stick around. More importantly: TELL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. We want you here EVERY DAY.
Rod
ROD AMIS is a Contributing Editor at Suite101.com, where he writes the " 'Net Publishing" feature.
Rod is also a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he writes on web design and development issues every Thursday; and a contributing writer for Faulkner Information Services.
And when not busy with publishing chores at this site, and answering sixty -to- one hundred e-mails a day, he likes to throw darts; seek female companionship; and listen to Tupac, Beethoven, Philip Glass, Joni Mitchell, James Carter, Eric Clapton, Snoop Dogg, Etta James, Miles Davis, Handel, Portishead, Toots & the Maytals, Bob Marley, Sinead O'Connor, techno, house, jazz.... You get the idea.
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